When a patient experiences a medical emergency, it may be important for the patient to begin receiving medical care as soon as possible. In some cases, the first persons to administer medical care or assistance are persons other than trained medical personnel. This immediate medical assistance or emergency care, usually rendered by a person or persons other than trained medical personnel, is called “first aid.”
First aid can greatly affect the outcome of a medical emergency. In some cases, the medical emergency can be resolved by the application of first aid alone. In other cases, first aid provides valuable assistance to the patient until trained medical personnel can treat the patient.
Some venues such as restaurants, sporting facilities, shopping malls and auditoriums have first aid kits on site. Inside a typical first aid kit is an assortment of supplies that can be used by a person to aid in providing medical care. The first aid kit can also include instructions, such as a first aid manual, which provides instruction to the untrained person about how to provide medical care. The first aid instructions typically employ common language and non-technical terms for the benefit of a person not trained to provide medical care.
Some venues also have on site medical devices applicable to specific medical situations. One such device is an automated external defibrillators (AED). In general, an AED is a device that can detect fibrillation in the heart of a patient and deliver defibrillation therapy to terminate the fibrillation and restore a sinus rhythm.